DCB arrests Maratha aide, seizes firearms

SURAT, Aug 22: The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on Sunday afternoon arrested Natwar Mohan Patel alias Koli, an accomplice of notorious...

SURAT, Aug 22: The Detection of Crime Branch (DCB) on Sunday afternoon arrested Natwar Mohan Patel alias Koli, an accomplice of notorious gangster and Chhota Rajan aide Dilip Shankar Kadam alias Dilip Maratha, with two revolvers from the city’s outskirts.

Both revolvers were given to Patel, a resident of Valsad district, by Dilip Maratha. Patel had been on the run since Maratha’s arrest by the DCB from a Mumbai flat a month ago. While one of the revolvers is a Calcutta-made remake of a Scott-Webley revolver, the other is country-made.

The DCB said that while Maratha had confessed during his interrogation that he had given two revolvers to Natwar Mohan Patel of Mandir Falia area of Bhinwaad village in Valsad taluka, Patel went underground after hearing of Maratha’s arrest. However, the DCB received information that he was coming to Shiv Hotel in Un village on the city’s outskirts today.

Based on this information, DCB PI R G Kaneriya, PSI B V Patel, and other policemen positioned themselves in the hotel since morning and arrested Natwar Patel as soon as he arrived. Patel did not fire from the revolvers or put up any resistance. Both revolvers were on his body when he was arrested.

The police stated that while the Scott-Webley remake was worth Rs 25,000, the other country-made revolver was worth Rs 2000. No cartridges were recovered from Patel’s possession.

Patel himself, the police said, was a criminal and had been sentenced earlier for two murder cases in 1982. He has confessed to the DCB that he first met Maratha in 1988 at the Vadodara Central Jail, where both were serving their sentences at the same time. Patel will be produced before a magistrate on Monday, where the DCB will seek a remand.